Kochi: Mediapersons in Kerala were at the receiving end of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's anger yet again, on Wednesday.

Pinarayi, visibly angry, told the reporters to "stay away" when they approached him seeking a comment on the high polling rate in the Lok Sabha elections conducted in the state on Tuesday.

Pinarayi was leaving for the Nedumbassery airport from the guest house here on Wednesday morning when the reporters accosted him.

This is not the first time that Pinarayi has rubbed the media the wrong way. Last year, on July 31, the chief minister had rudely asked the mediapersonnel to get out of a meeting venue in the state capital.

In November 2017, he got angry with a reporter in Kochi when the mike of one of the TV channels brushed against him.

This happened when TV mediapeople approached him for a sound byte on the war of words between the ruling partners -- the CPM and CPI - and he lost his cool.

As Pinarayi, who had arrived in Kochi to attend a party meeting, got out of the car and moved towards the meeting venue, mediapersons approached him after spotting a smile on his face. They asked him for reactions to the sparring between the CPM and CPI leaders, which had hit headlines then, due to the resignation drama involving state Transport Minister Thomas Chandy.

As he was moving forward, the mike of a TV channel crew brushed against the CM in the meele. The chief minister angrily told the media crew to move out of the way.

Pinarayi is not known to be friendly towards the media. This is in contrast to his party rival V S Achuthanandan, who became the darling of the media during his stint as chief minister during 2006-11. At the time, Pinarayi had even gone to the extent of calling a section of the media in the state capital a syndicate.

Kerala witnessed a heavy polling of 77.68 per cent, the highest in 30 years, in the 20 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state, where the ruling LDF and the opposition UDF put up a fierce fight to garner maximum seats. The strength of the electorate is 2.61 crore.